By Justin Franz
WASHINGTON — Class I railroad executives beholden to the whims of shareholders who want deeper cuts and more profit are bringing the national rail network to a crawl. That was the message railroad shippers and railroaders brought to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday at the start of a two-day hearing about “urgent” issues facing the nation’s freight rail system.
The STB, the federal board that oversees the rail network, called the meeting earlier this spring after receiving a waterfall of complaints from rail customers about poor service. The complaints are backed up by data: Average train speed is down and terminal dwell for freight cars is up dramatically despite there being fewer carloads traveling through the system. The freight railroads have blamed the lingering impacts of the pandemic, the supply chain crisis and the “Great Resignation” for their service woes. But the railroaders who testified during the first part of the hearing on Tuesday pinned the blame squarely on Precision Scheduled Railroading, a method of railroading implemented in recent years that calls for fewer train starts, fewer locomotives and fewer workers. And while PSR has been praised by railroad executives, stockholders and Wall Street analysts as a more efficient way to run a railroad — and one that results in record profits — shippers and railroaders are saying it’s wreaking havoc on the overall network.
“We are in absolute gridlock,” said Matt Burkart, a yardmaster for BNSF Railway and a union official who attended the hearing in Washington D.C.
Tuesday’s hearing started off with comments from Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. Before Buttigieg took the mic, STB Board Chair Martin Oberman noted that it was the first time in more than 20 years that a Secretary of Transportation had attended such a hearing. Buttigieg praised railroaders for their work during the pandemic and said that labor and the railroads should work together to find solutions to the present challenges. He encouraged railroads to hire more people and compensate them well, adding that overburdening railroaders would lead to more service problems and safety issues.
Up next was Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Jewel Bronaugh who shared the concerns of farmers and ranchers across the country who have been suffering from poor rail service. In some instances, she said, farmers have had to consider whether or not they will have to get rid of some livestock because they can’t get the feed they need.
Up next were representatives of various rail customer industry groups, including the National Grain and Feed Association, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the American Chemistry Council. Again, the speakers put the blame for the railroads’ service issues squarely on PSR.
“This is not a pandemic-related issue. We’re dealing with years of cuts that have gutted the rail network that’s making these service issues inevitable,” said Chris John, President and CEO of the American Chemistry Council. “Precision Scheduled Railroading is just doing less with less.”
An autorack train pulls into Whitefish, Mont. Photo by Justin Franz.
The shippers outlined a gamut of issues, including railroads not picking up carloads in a timely manner, skipping scheduled switches, and customer service departments that are hard to reach or feel non-existent. The board members also questioned the representatives of the shipping groups on rumors that some rail customers were worried about retaliation from railroads if they did speak out publicly about the service issues. The representatives said that was a possibility, which frustrated Oberman who said such actions were “completely unacceptable” and if proven should be dealt with in the “harshest way.”
Next up were representatives of labor. In the last five years, in the time that most Class Is have implemented PSR, the major railroads have reduced their workforce by 29 percent, or 45,000 bodies. Labor officials said those cuts only benefited the shareholders celebrating a low operating ratio (and higher profits). The railroaders who remain have also been handicapped by various operating rules, including throttle restrictions that save fuel but also make it impossible to keep trains going at track speed, thus gumming up the system. Chris Bond, a BNSF engineer and union official in Texas, said it was notable that the railroad had recently eliminated some throttle restrictions ahead of the STB hearing — perhaps wanting to show that they were making progress toward resuming regular service. The railroaders also blamed longer trains that they say can’t get over the road efficiently and then jam rail yards. Burkart, the BNSF yardmaster, said the many rail yards were designed and built decades ago when train lengths were considerably shorter and can’t effectively handle a 10,000-foot train. Steven Groat, a BNSF locomotive engineer in Iowa, said the company was also trying to run longer trains with few locomotives.
“It’s a lot like hooking up a 28-foot camper to a Toyota Prius and driving to Colorado. At what point does that engine fail,” Groat asked.
Executives from BNSF, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, CSX, Canadian Pacific and Canadian National are all expected to speak in the coming hours.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
